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The MPSC held a series of town halls so that Commissioners could hear directly from utility customers who lost power during severe ice and snow storms in recent weeks.
“We know how exasperating it is to lose power and for it to take days for service to be restored, and we share in the frustrations with the reliability of the power grids operated by Michigan utilities,” MSPC Chair Dan Scripps said. “The Commission held these town halls to give Michiganders a chance to share directly with state regulators their experiences during and after the storms, as well as a chance to hear about what steps the MPSC is taking to address reliability.”
Hundreds of people turned out to share their experiences and concerns with the MPSC. Town halls were held March 20 in Jackson and Dearborn, and a virtual public hearing was held March 21.
In the last few years, summer and winter storms have left hundreds of thousands of customers of DTE Energy and Consumers Energy without power for days at a time.
Commissioners gave brief remarks at the town halls, acknowledging that much more work needs to be done to improve reliability of the power grid, but also sharing information about the MPSC’s broad efforts already underway to upgrade the state’s power grid and make it more resilient against increasingly severe year-round storms that are happening more frequently as the state’s climate changes.
Efforts so far have included directing utilities to step up their efforts to trim more trees on a faster rotation. Early indications are that areas where these efforts have been focused are seeing fewer outages, and the outages are of shorter duration.
The Commission, meanwhile, expects that updates to its rules to increase the credits Michigan’s utilities are required to offer to its customers who experience long or multiple power outages will take effect by the end of March. Currently, customers are eligible only for a one-time $25 credit if they apply for it. Under new rules the Commission approved, the credit will rise to $35 once the outage duration threshold is met, plus $35 for each additional day. The credits will be automatic, so that customers no longer have to request them from their utility, and the amounts will also be indexed to the rate of inflation.
In addition, the Commission recently put out a request for proposals, or RFP, for third-party systemwide audits of the electricity distribution systems of both DTE Electric and Consumers Energy to identify shortcomings, best practices, and parts of the system for targeted investment. The audits will examine all equipment and operations of the two utilities’ electric distribution system. This is the first time the MPSC has conducted such a wide-ranging review of the two utilities.
The audits are meant to provide a clear, independent assessment of the utilities’ distribution infrastructure, programs and processes, to help inform the next steps toward a more reliable power grid that meets expectations customers expect and deserve. A final report with findings from the audit is expected in 2024.
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